Western sincerity and Confucian Cheng

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Asian Philosophy 161 dently of the [traditional] truth or validity of the beliefs or principles involved’ (Berlin, 1997, p. 553). Paradoxically, in my point of view, this value of sincerity starts with elevating the individualistic ‘self’, but ends being a universal criterion for evaluation and judgment, especially in the domains of ethics and aesthetics. The tension of individuality and universality associated with sincerity may cause two kinds of social consequences, which depend on what psychological structure a sincere person possesses. Negatively, a person may stress the side of individuality, and therefore intensify his efforts to realize, even universalize his ‘self’ in various social forms. Berlin mentioned that, ‘If it goes too far, if someone is a Hitler, then we do not think that his sincerity is necessarily a saving quality’ (Berlin, 1999, p. 141). As for this fact, the medieval warning is still legitimate: people can sincerely do something against the well-being of humankind as a whole; and, in that case, the more sincere they are, the more dangerous to humans. In contrast, if the emphasis is put on the side of universality, a feeling of ‘respect’ between two parties, who differ in their understanding of social issues, might ideally replace the medieval feeling of ‘pity’. The reasoning would be that, no matter what you believe in, correct or incorrect in my view, you still have my respect and admiration so long as your attitude toward your belief itself is honest, and you have truly sacrificed for your belief. Here the point is not that I accept the content of the truth in which you believe, but that I respect your attitude towards the truth. The content differentiates you from me, while the attitude underscores the commonality of us. As history already proved that the confrontation among major cultures and religions will finally attain a situation in which no party can continue to press his truth on the other parties by killing, a situation in which continuous conflicts on truth will lead nowhere, but total peril of humankind as a whole. The significance of Romantic sincerity lies in that it provided a common ground for the dialogue among all parties, as well as for their tolerance and compromise to each other, a common ground on which a genuine religious or cultural diversity may stand: various parties discuss peacefully with each other for the sake of the interest of entire humankind, while continuing to hold their own view of truth. Cheng in Confucianism Despite its similarity to the English ‘sincerity’ at the philological level, cheng as a philosophical concept possesses several attributes that are absent in the Western tradition. In what follows, I will limit my discussion to the Confucian circle, so as to highlight its difference with the sincerity on three topics. Cheng as a Universalistic Concept Mencius (371–289 B.C.?) first used cheng as a philosophical concept. In a long passage concerning a gentleman’s fulfillment of his official duty, he listed six phases toward its success. They are: ‘govern the people’, ‘win the confidence of superiors’, ‘win the trust of friends’, ‘please the parents’, ‘to be true to oneself (chengshen)’, and ‘understand goodness (zhishan)’ (Zhu, 1983; Lau, 1970). It is a chain reasoning from
162 Yanming An the far to the near, from large scale to the small, and from a person’s external exercise to his inner heart. In this process, each succeeding phase functions as a necessary condition for the realization of the preceding one, and each success signifies the person’s new achievement in realizing his social ideal. Although the completion of the entire six phases is expected only for a social elite, the chain is also relevant to those who will never assume any office. Everyone, no matter how ordinary, must have a family and needs to build up certain types of friendship, so he should attain, at least, the last four phases. Regarding the concept of cheng, what interests us the most is the relationship among the last three phases. In terms of Mencius’ reasoning, ‘to be true to oneself’ is motivated by the need to ‘please the parents.’ This connection implies an important, but often-ignored point: cheng as a moral effort originates from family life, and its first beneficiaries are one’s parents. Unlike other human relationships, such as friend and friend, superior and inferior, teacher and students, that between parents and their children is principally a natural, rather than societal one. Normally, for a man, seeking to ‘please parents’ does not come from some utilitarian or pragmatic concerns; it is an intuitive action as natural as needing to eat and drink. Meanwhile, to ‘please parents’ is also a perennial need; it will last as long as he still lives. The need pushes people to search for its satisfaction; and the naturalness accounts for the intensity and durability that feature the search. Mencius assumed ‘to be true to oneself’ as the most reliable way for satisfying the need, because it can ensure a man to be consistent when dealing with his parents, and to be constantly good towards them. However, according to Mencius, the attainment of ‘to be true to oneself’ is conditioned by ‘understand goodness’ – ‘If one does not understand goodness, he can not be true to himself’ (Zhu, 1983; Lau, 1970). Following the interpretation of Kang Youwei (1858–1927), I would hold that this ‘goodness’ means human’s ‘good nature’ (shanxing) endowed by Heaven (Kang, 1987, p. 137); it is simply another name of ‘self’ to which one should be true. Concretely, it consists of the ‘four minds’ (siduan): ‘mind of compassion’ (ceyin zhi xin), ‘mind of shame’ (cirang zhi xin), ‘mind of courtesy and modesty’ (xiuwu zhi xin) and ‘mind of right and wrong’ (shifei zhi xin) (Lau, 1970, 6A/6). In contrast to the ‘self’ in the Western Romanticism, this nature or ‘self’ is a universalistic concept that characterizes humankind as a particular species, differentiating them from animals. So, ‘understand goodness’ actually refers to a clear knowledge about this nature and its worthiness, which will encourage people to treasure their nature or to be loyal to their ‘self’. In accordance, ‘to be true to oneself’ should be properly read as ‘to abide by the nature’ and ‘to maintain the self’. The universality of cheng is revealed also in the term of ‘true’ or truth. Similar to the Romantics, the Confucian ‘true’ means primarily a true feeling, or an honest attitude toward one’s self, rather than a true cognition or knowledge of objective facts. At the same time, this ‘true feeling’ has a special connotation that needs to be clarified. In the Confucian lexicon, as Thomas Metzger phrased, there are two kinds of feeling: the ‘selfish feeling’ and unselfish or ‘empathetic feeling’ (Metzger, 1977,
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Western sincerity and Confucian Cheng

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